Archive for the ‘Philip Lewis’ tag

I’ve still got the scars from my childhood explorations into the melting point of copper, and to this day it’s my material of choice when the need to bend some metal strikes. I’m not the only one, with copper choppers and hotrod detail work showing up among those who don’t mind a streak of green here and there.

New Zealand’s Southward Car Museum is, as are many car museums, the bequest of a single man, and as such, an eclectic reflection of his tastes. In this case, Sir Len Southward, who clearly dug the prewar jazz.

There’s only a sketch of the 250-car collection, and it includes a single small photo and a single paragraph on something it calls “The Dodge Copper Car:”

This remarkable car body was handbeaten out of copper by Mr Philip Lewis of Auckland in 1921. Mr Lewis bought a new Dodge in 1920 and then transformed it by adding new bodywork beaten out of copper and brass. The bodywork took 1000 hours to complete and the car made its debut in the Queen Street Christmas Eve Parade of 1921 in Auckland.

I couldn’t learn anything else about it, and only turned up a couple other photos on the internets, from a German Oltimer fan’s field trip.

It’s a baroque masterpiece, and no matter how thin the sheathing is, must weigh two tons or better. I’m going out on a limb and guessing that despite it’s antipodean origins, with the snake head horn, it’s got to be called “Copperhead.” Next time anyone’s in NZ, bring us back some better pics, OK? And tell us more about the thing just called “Dragster,” too..

“Powered by an Allison V1710 aircraft engine, the 12 cylinder motor of 1710 cu in (28,027cc) develops 1400 bhp at 3000 rpm. Fitted with a Stromberg injection carburettor, the engine is from a Kittyhawk P40 fighter plane.”